King Fiction Exercise: Bittersweet Endings and a Broken Promise
by HopefulHelpful
Summary: Assignment for my Creative Writing class. What does a man do when his marriage with his mentally ill wife goes down the drain, but ending it would break a solemn promise he made and prove his wife's paranoia correct? Does he succeed in trying to hold true to his love, or will something cause him to snap? RATED T FOR VIOLENCE, BLOOD, CHARACTER DEATH, AND CRAZY WOMAN TALK. Complete!


**AN:** So. I'm currently taking a Creative Writing class my last semester of senior year (WOO! I CAN TASTE THE FREEDOM ITS SO CLOSE!) and my teacher assigned an  exercise from Stephen King's book On Writing. This exercise is found on pages 170-173 where he provides a situation and then asks for us to "write five or six pages of unplotted narration" about it. My creative writing teacher told us to just "let the story write itself/ lead you to wherever it goes" and so on and so forth. Well, I let my story lead me to where it wanted to go... and it lead me to a **freaking 13 and 1/2-page monster**. So, it's a bit longer than 5-6 pages, but oh well. I didn't want this monster to just sit there on my computer while I tried to condense it into 6 pages (which were absolute crap and did not do this justice) so I decided to post it on here.

(I have a habit of switching tenses often (and sometimes even 2 or 3 times in one sentence!) and even though I'm think I caught them all, I may have missed some. If you see any mistakes, please let me know in a review!)

I had a friend of mine read it and give suggestions while I was writing it, so she kinda beta read it I guess. She has an account on here called Nellie Bachesneg. She just posted a How To Train Your Dragon fanfic (her first fic) so you should go check it out!

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 **King Fiction Exercise: Bittersweet Endings and a Broken Promise**

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Dick is left reeling from what he just saw on the news. The loud, ground-shaking roar of thunder doesn't even make him flinch. There is an overpowering sense of unease unfurling deep within him, for he knows the identity of the third escaped mental patient. The two recaptured escapees had revealed that they were not responsible for the guard's death, but the third person killed him. Dick's hand unconsciously travels up to cover the still healing scar on his chest.

Dick now knows the cause of his apprehension upon entering his empty house. He can recognize the distinct scent of her perfume and realizes he is not as alone as he had thought. Someone is coming downstairs, their footsteps echoing loudly over the pounding in his ears and the rain pelting against the sides of the house. It was her. He can't move, can't think, can't do anything for he is frozen in shock and fear from the situation that was unexpectedly thrust upon him. She has returned to kill him. As the owner of the footsteps reaches the ground floor and pauses, Dick's only thought is I'm glad my sweet Little Nell is not here. She's safe. I'm sorry Little Nell, Daddy loves you.

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 **.o0o._FIVE_YEARS_EARLIER_.o0o.**

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"You may kiss the bride."

Dick looks lovingly at his new wife and lifts the veil. He smiles at her glowing expression and whispers "My beautiful Jane," as he leans in for a kiss. My life has just become perfect.

Dick had only been dating Jane for a year, but her personality and essence had drawn him in; she was his sun, and he is a planet in orbit, never moving away or off path. Her fantastic wit and sense of humor perfectly complimented his own, and they could stay up talking for hours, and understood each other on a deeper level. Dick loved her. He knew that to be true in his heart. She completed him, she was his soul mate, and nothing would ever change that.

Sure, every relationship has its ups and downs, those rocky patches; and some more than others. There's that 'golden rule' of relationships: "don't date or marry someone thinking you can change them," or something like that. Dick admitted that he and Jane often argued and had fights, but they always overcame the conflict, and he just knew that their love will stay strong and true.

As they had left for their honeymoon, Dick looked upon his new wife and had been mesmerized by her beauty and her magnetism, thinking: I am the luckiest man in the world.

But Dick and Jane's relationship wasn't as picture perfect as it seemed from the outside. Jane had a troubled soul. When she was younger, she had skipped a few grades and entered high school a year or two before her age group. She was a naïve, innocent teen in a 'new world' surrounded by older, not-so-innocent teenagers. She looked up to this one guy, the star student of the school. His name was Brian, and he was the 'perfect' mix of a smart jock. And when he started paying attention to her, she fell right into his clutches. She loved and adored him, thinking that he loved her too.

What she hadn't known, was that he was just stringing her along for laughs and amusement of him and his friends. Then, one day she had walked in on him with another girl and confronted him. He revealed that he didn't care about her at all, and that this girl was just the latest in a long line of others he had been with during their relationship. This had crushed Jane, destroyed her entire being. But that wasn't even the worst of it. Later, she was in one of their "hangouts" crying over their shattered relationship when he had arrived with several of his friends. Let's just say that they didn't have good intentions at all. Once they were finished with her, they had just left her there tied up and gagged. Jane was left there for a good few hours before she was found.

After these traumatic events, she was a shadow of her former self. Jane had a deep, ingrained sense of distrust for all men that lasted her through the rest of her high school years and well into college. That men could not be trusted and would stab her in the back before leaving.

Dick remembers when he first met Jane in their junior year of college. He was paired with her for a project and soon after fell deeply in love with her. Jane still had her shields up and was wary of all men, but Dick diligently never gave up in his pursuit. He managed to break through her walls and shown her that not all men were bad, that not all men were like Brian and his gang. Jane had eventually come to return his feelings, and Dick had silently promised himself to never do what Brian had, to stay with her forever and prove to her that he isn't like Brian, that she was wrong about guys. She put her trust in him, and he was not going to let her down.

So, when problems and conflict had arisen in their marriage, Dick kept true to his promise to never leave her, to not abandon her. When she tried to control what he was doing, where he went, and who he saw, Dick never got mad or blown up at her. He calmly reassured her and then stuck around for a few days so she could see that he wasn't going anywhere. Sometimes when he had to stay overtime at work or went out to dinner with coworkers, even if he had told Jane beforehand, she always got mad at him and accused him of cheating on her. Jane was very paranoid and always worried that Dick was going behind her back and seeing someone else, so he had to frequently show his love for her. He hadn't minded having to do all this, for he loved her; he would stay with her to the ends of the earth.

While Jane continued to have trust issues even after being married for a couple of years, Dick continued to overlooked her faults. After two years of being married, they had become the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, whom they named Little Nell. Things had gotten better between Dick and Jane for a while after Little Nell was born, with Jane calmed down and focusing on their daughter instead of her paranoia. Life was good. Dick had a nice job, nice home, and a wonderful family that he loved with all his heart.

Almost two years after Little Nell was born, Dick had started a new job, with a much higher pay than before. Shortly before Little Nell turned three, Dick and Jane had decided to move out of their current apartment and into a real house now that they had enough money to afford it. While house hunting, Dick had found a good home in a nice neighborhood and felt that this was the perfect place. Jane had felt conflicted, and Dick tried his best to convince her to move into the house he had found. There was a playground just a block away with a daycare and elementary school close nearby. Jane had started to be suspicious of Dick because of how hard he had tried to convince her to choose this house. They had a few small arguments about the situation, and Dick patiently explained his reasoning to her numerous times.

Jane finally agreed and they moved there, but then she had had a doubt in her mind: she thought he might be seeing someone from his new job and wanted to move to be closer to them. This was the cause of several arguments and after she saw Dick leave a neighbor's house one evening, she exploded and attacked him. He tried to be understanding and had attempted to explain his reason for being at their neighbor's house (because the bachelor who lived there was showing Dick his "man cave" in the garage) but Jane refused to listen. Dick managed to calm down Jane, who had then stormed off to their room while he had gone to comfort their destressed daughter.

This had carried on for a few months, with Jane getting worse with her abuse, but Dick hadn't left her or acted against her. He had withstood the abuse and stayed with Jane because of his promise and his love for her. Throughout the months of abuse, Dick had kept Little Nell away from the conflict and Jane did not involve her in her violent "explosions". But that had soon changed.

After Jane raised a hand against Little Nell, Dick had known that he could remain no longer. He could take the abuse, but he wasn't going to put poor Little Nell in harm's way, even if it meant breaking his promise. With guilt and regret heavy in his heart, he had quietly divorced Jane and gained custody of Little Nell. He still loved Jane, and had wanted to help her in any way possible, so he had taken all his and Little Nell's things and put the majority in storage. He then left the house to Jane, so that she still had a place to live. Dick and Little Nell then stayed at a cheap apartment while he searched for something better.

Jane had felt betrayed, for she thought her suspicions were true and that was why he divorced her. She wanted revenge. She had then begun to stalk Dick, following him everywhere in the hope of catching him in the act or getting the chance to get back at him. Jane had soon become more daring and bold in her stalking, she had confronted him in public, broke into the apartment and trashed the place while Dick was at work and Little Nell at daycare. Dick had been getting worried for both his and Little Nell's safety, and after this incident, he had filed a restraining order against Jane, hoping that would help.

For a week, all was silent and Jane had stayed away, or at least out of sight. Dick started to relax and lower his guard, thinking that was the end of it. One day, Dick had left Little Nell with a babysitter that lived in a house in the neighborhood next to the apartment complex. He picked her up from the sitter's after he got out of work early, and stayed in the house to talk to the sitter for a few minutes while Little Nell picked up her toys. After he had left the house, Dick thought he saw Jane driving a car down the street, but the car was gone before he could have taken a closer look, and he thought nothing of it.

Dick had promised Little Nell some ice cream if she was good for the 'sitter, so he took her to a nice little ice cream shop at the mall. They had been seated at a table in the shop's small "outer" courtyard talking about Little Nell's day when she glanced behind her father and pointed, saying "Look Daddy, it's Mommy!"

He had frozen before he stood up suddenly and whirled around to face the woman he loved. Jane yelled "You bastard!" before she lunged at him, a fist flying toward his face. He failed to dodge the sudden and unexpected attack, and had fallen back into his table. The other restaurant occupants had been startled by the sudden fight, and a disoriented crowd soon formed. Dick had been unwilling to hit Jane and had tried to dodge her blows. He heard Little Nell crying behind him and had unconsciously turned his body away from Jane to check on their daughter, and that was his mistake.

Only a few seconds after taking his eyes off Jane, and just after he locked gazes with Little Nell Dick heard Jane yell and had suddenly felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest. He had gasped, and the world seemed muted around him as he dropped to his knees, unable to feel the impact of his knees on the ground. In his dazed state, he had missed the sudden commotion around him as Jane dropped the bloody knife in her hand and was taken down by the newly-arrived police. He raised a hand to his chest, looking down at the source of his pain. Dick's hand was painted red when he pulled it away from his chest, and the world had sharpened around him. He fell to his side and his senses overwhelmed him, pain clouding his mind.

Dick gasped wetly, trying to form the words to ask about Little Nell, he had needed to know if she was okay or not. Someone rushed to him and dropped to their knees besides his prone body. He was rolled onto his back and the unknown person had applied pressure to the bleeding knife wound in his chest. Dick's vision had whited out from the pain and he blinked rapidly, his vision had gradually come back into focus, along with his hearing. The noise was overwhelmingly loud, people yelled, screamed, panicked, voices overlapping; but the only voice Dick had been concerned about was that of a little girl screaming "Daddy!" He had managed to turn his head enough to see his daughter as she reached out to him as she struggled in the grasp of a mall security officer. He had softly sighed in relief at the sight of his unharmed daughter and then Dick had surrendered himself to the encroaching darkness, his eyes had slipped closed regardless of the pleads to stay awake from the man above him.

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 **.o0o._EIGHT_DAYS_LATER_.o0o.**

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Dick was released from the hospital just over a week later after having surgery and being treated for his stab wound with a few days until Jane's trial. Dick's best friend is Max, one of his coworkers, and they are as close as brothers so Max knew what Dick was going through and supported him through everything. Max and his family had even watched over Little Nell during Dick's hospital stay. After Dick was discharged from the hospital, Max told him that he was going on a month-long cruise with his wife and children, and offered to let Dick and Little Nell stay at his house as a temporary home for them until something more permanent was arranged. Dick gratefully took his friend up on his offer because he was on doctor's orders not to go to work or do anything strenuous, so not having to worry about bills or paying for the laundromat was a relief.

During the three days leading up to his ex-wife's trial, Dick split his time between discussing the case trial with both his lawyer and the one provided for Jane, relaxing and trying not to strain his healing injury, and spending time with Little Nell. One of her friends had a birthday party the day after the trial so he made arrangements for her to go to the party and then helped her find the "perfect" gift for her friend. Dick had also organized it with Jack and Sally, the parents of Little Nell's friend, to letting her stay over with them the night before the hearing because the trial was scheduled in the early morning.

After a stressful trial, wherein Jane was declared "not guilty by reason of insanity" and then submitted to a psychiatric facility, Dick was exhausted. He felt bad for what happened to Jane, but knew that this was for the best and that now she was in a place where she could get the help she needed to get better. There was also a very, very small part of him that hoped she would become well and aware enough to come back to him, but he buried that in the back of him mind under the memory of the look of intense hatred and murderous rage he saw in Jane's eyes as she lunged at him and Little Nell, and of his fear of her and for his own life as he bled out, his body in a spreading pool of lifeblood. Dick wasn't willing to chance putting himself or their daughter in danger.

He went and picked up Little Nell from her friend's house, and after thanking Jack and Sally again for watching over her, then spent the rest of the day with his daughter and eating ice cream from the tub out of the kitchen's freezer. Dick felt that he could finally relax now that the unseen weigh had been lifted off his shoulders. He smiled as he tucked her into her bed, kissing her brow softly as he whispered "Good night, little princess. I love you,"

The next day after dropping Little Nell of at daycare, Dick goes back to the hospital to have his injury looked at and to have his stiches removed. He has a light session of therapy and then went out for lunch with a few of his other coworkers before going to pick up his daughter from daycare. They make a quick stop at the house so Little Nell can run in and grab the present while Dick, keeping the weather forecast and darkening clouds above in mind, hunts around for an umbrella. It starts drizzling once they are back in the car, and soon after that, Dick was dropping Little Nell off at her friend's birthday party with the parting words of "Be good now, and I'll be back at 5:30 to pick you up."

Dick slowly drives back to Max's house as the rain starts coming down harder, thinking he might have overdone it as his chest lightly throbs with pain. He looks forward to an afternoon of relaxation, planning to take some of his pain medicine and then catching the 3 o'clock news before taking a nap to let the painkillers kick in. He pulls the car into the driveway and grabs the umbrella in one hand and hops out of the car into the now pouring rain, house key ready in hand as he hurried over to the door after locking the car behind him.

He shuts the door and absentmindedly flips the lock as he starts to shake out his umbrella before freezing. Dick stands up straight, slowly looking around him trying to find the reason for his sudden feeling of anxiousness. A bright flash of lightning and the following roll of thunder startles him, causing him to flinch back. He chuckles softly, murmuring "you're getting paranoid, Richard. Get yourself together, man," under his breath as he starts to relax. His mind wanders to Little Nell and he assures himself that he's probably just worried that Little Nell might be upset because of being away from him during such a bad storm.

He removes his shoes and hangs his jacket up before grabbing his bottle of prescribed painkillers on the way into the kitchen. He places the medicine bottle down on the counter in front of him as he pours himself a glass of cold water. Dick shakes two tablets out of the bottle and takes them, getting slight goosebumps from the chilled water rushing down the back of his throat. He sighs, leaning back against the counter as a hand comes up to gently massage his aching wound. Another flash of lightning and boom of thunder followed by the lights flickering off for a quick second bring him out of his thoughts and he places his glass in the sink before walking to the TV room and turning on the lights.

After a minute or two spent searching, Dick manages to find the TV remote hidden behind the TV for some reason, and pushing away his continued feeling of unease, he shakes his head exasperatedly, thinking of Little Nell and her habit of hiding things around the house. He lowers himself into a comfortable lounge chair and sighs, leaning his head back as he gives his tense muscles the chance to relax. With the press of a button, sound fills the room as he hears the news anchorman say "-update on the mental facility breakout in just a few minutes." Dick freezes, and lifts his head to stare at the commercial now being shown. His sense of unease returns to the front of his mind.

A minute of tense waiting, the news report returns. "Early this morning there was a commotion at the St. Mary's Psychiatric Facility where three mental patients managed to escape, causing the death of the hospital guard stationed in their wing of the building."

"Dear Lord," Dick whispered, his face now white.

"We warned people nearby the facility to be on the lookout because the escaped patients were proven to be violent and mentally unstable. We didn't have any more information, but now we have an update on the situation."

The authorities have captured two of the three escaped patients, but the third is still out there. Though the identities of all three patients remain classified, police warn citizens to keep their doors and windows locked because it has been revealed that it was the third patient who murdered the guard. While her identity is yet to be disclosed, we know that the patient is female and has a record of violence as she was submitted for the attempted murder of-"

With a blinding flash of lightning and a "fizzle-pop" noise, the power cut out, leaving Dick sitting frozen on his chair surrounded by darkness.

Dick is left reeling from what he just saw on the news. The loud, ground-shaking roar of thunder doesn't even make him flinch. There is an overpowering sense of unease unfurling deep within him, for he knows the identity of the third escaped mental patient. The two recaptured escapees had revealed that they were not responsible for the guard's death, but the third person killed him. Dick's hand unconsciously travels up to cover the still healing scar on his chest.

Dick now knows the cause of his apprehension upon entering his empty house. He can recognize the distinct scent of her perfume and realizes he is not as alone as he had thought. Someone is coming downstairs, their footsteps echoing loudly over the pounding in his ears and the rain pelting against the sides of the house. It was her. He can't move, can't think, can't do anything for he is frozen in shock and fear from the situation that was unexpectedly thrust upon him. She has returned to kill him. As the owner of the footsteps reaches the ground floor and pauses, Dick's only thought is I'm glad my sweet Little Nell is not here. She's safe. I'm sorry Little Nell, Daddy loves you.

His heart is pounding and his breath catches in his throat, frozen in fear. In the back of his mind he recognizes that he is hyperventilating but that isn't what's important. He didn't realize that his eyes slipped closed until he hears that familiar giggling, yet with a hint of hysteria that hadn't been there before. His eyes snap open to see her standing in the doorframe of the TV room, holding what impossibly looked like a rusty shard of glass, until he sees the reddish-brown stains on the sleeve and front of her shirt and realizes with a jolt that it is covered in dried blood.

"Jane…" Dick whispers, silently wondering where it all went wrong. Jane takes a step forward, her eyes glinting in the dim light filling the room from the nightlights spread around the room. Dick stands and backs away, silently thankful for Max's youngest daughter having an intense fear of the dark. "Jane, calm down… you don't want to do this." He puts his hands out in front of him in what he hopes is a calming gesture. His mind races, trying to think of something, anything that would help in this situation.

Jane just cocks her head slightly to the left, a soft smile on her face, reminding Dick of the woman he first fell in love with, at least until she opens her mouth and speaks. "You promised…" she speaks in a light, girly voice. "'in sickness and in health,'" she takes a few prancing steps forward, opening her arms as if for a hug. Her voice drops into a dark tone, "'until death do us part.'" Dick freezes in backing away, giving her a wary and frightened look as he slowly returns the dead house phone to its cradle on the lamp table behind him.

A dangerous look appears on Jane's face as she practically snarls "I'm here to fix that." She rushes forward towards Dick and he recoils, backing out of the TV room and into the kitchen. "You promised you would never abandon me, that you wouldn't stab me in the back and leave me, and LOOK WHERE WE ARE!" She screams at him. Jane suddenly starts giggling as she says "I'm not going to let you. I won't let you leave me, I won't let you stab me in the back, because I WILL FIRST!" Her light and bubbly demeanor suddenly drops.

Dick starts searching the kitchen drawers, trying to find something to defend himself with as Jane starts ranting about how much she was going to enjoy stabbing and destroying him and making him all "nice a pretty"- he mentally shudders, horrified at how everything has gone downhill.

While Dick was mentally despairing, he didn't notice that Jane had cornered him until it was too late. He whirls around to face her, eyes locked on the deadly shard of glass still clutched in her hand. "I don't want to hurt you Jane… please," She interrupts him with crazed laughter. He frantically searches the counter next to him, cursing the fact that he didn't know where Max and his wife kept things in their kitchen. His hand locks around his medicine bottle as Jane takes a step closer and throws it at her, causing her to stop her laughter and take a few steps back.

Dick ignores her dark glare and turns, reaching for the glass in the sink and chucks it down at the ground near her feet in hopes of causing her to back up even further. She doesn't even flinch, just opens her mouth and with a scream of rage throws herself at him, holding the glass shard out in front of her. His eyes widen and before he has any chance to react she's on him. Dick tries to block the shard of glass but only manages to divert her attack, hissing as he feels a thin line of pain blossom across his side. He grabs hold of her hands, trying to wrench the shard out of her grasp.

Jane struggles against him, and after a moment one of them slips and brings them both down onto the hard, unforgiving floor littered with shards of glass from Dick's attempt to keep her away. Dick lands heavily on his side, and groans upon feeling all the new cuts across his body. Jane landed half on top of him and is now trying to use her weight to force the shard into him. He kicks her leg out from under her and they roll across the floor, when suddenly, someone's hand slips, a soft grunt is heard, and they are both still.

In the next bright flash of lightning, blood can be seen spreading slowly across the glass covered kitchen floor. The rumble of thunder not quite covering the sobs shaking Dick's body and he clutches Jane's limp corpse close to him, crying for the loss of his true love, his broken promise, the injustice of it all as he rocks his body whispering "I'm sorry my love, I'm so sorry," repeatedly into her hair.

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 **.o0o._THE_END_.o0o.**

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 **~HopefulHelpful**


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